Food labelling regulations UK guide for food businesses
UK food labels need names, ingredients, allergens and other required details. Check GB and NI rules, prepacked food, PPDS, online sales and exemptions.
UK food labelling regulations generally require prepacked food to show its name, ingredients, relevant allergens, net quantity, date information and responsible business details. Other food labelling requirements, including nutrition information, depend on the food, its market and the applicable exceptions. Article 9 lists the mandatory particulars.
Start with the destination market and packing method. Great Britain and Northern Ireland use different versions of the food information rules. Ordinary prepacked food, food prepacked for direct sale and loose food also have different requirements. Government packaging guidance explains the market distinction; FSA guidance explains the packing categories.
Which food labelling regulations apply in the UK?
Great Britain applies the assimilated version of Regulation 1169/2011 on food information to consumers, often called FIC (formerly retained EU law). Northern Ireland ordinarily applies the EU version. Later EU amendments should not be assumed to apply in GB. Use the government's GB and NI guidance, updated 4 September 2026, to identify the relevant framework.
Food labelling legislation is not one UK statute. The Food Information Regulations 2014 sit beside FIC, but they do not apply as a single UK-wide instrument. If the question is where the Food Information Regulations apply, read the territorial rule in that nation's instrument. England's SI 2014/1855 is the easy one to over-apply. Regulation 1(4) limits it to England, apart from specified exceptions for revocations and consequential amendments, which means the English text is the wrong default for a label destined only for Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. Separate instruments exist for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The destination also affects the business address on the label. Government guidance specifies:
- For GB, a UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man business address.
- For the ordinary NI route, an NI/EU business address or the relevant importer address.
For EU sales, use the EU FIC consolidation of 1 April 2025. It is also the comparison text for the ordinary NI route. It does not establish the GB position. And a consolidation is not the authentic amending act.
Northern Ireland needs a further check. Eligible consignments under the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme can benefit from derogations, and Regulation 2023/1231 lists FIC among the affected EU measures. Don't assume the ordinary NI address rule is unchanged for those goods. "Not for EU" is a scheme marking. It is not required on every food sold in NI. Check the scheme legislation and the marking guidance, updated 16 July 2026, before approving scheme labels.
What must appear on a food label?
For ordinary prepacked food, the food labelling requirements below come from Article 9. The list is conditional: every row does not apply to every product.
| Particular | What to check |
|---|---|
| Food name | Give the name of the food. |
| Ingredients | Provide an ingredients list unless an exemption applies. |
| Allergens | Declare applicable Annex II allergenic ingredients or processing aids still present in the finished food, even in altered form. |
| Ingredient quantities | State quantities of certain ingredients or categories where required. |
| Net quantity | Give the net quantity of the food. |
| Date | Use the minimum-durability or use-by date, as applicable. |
| Storage and use | Give special storage conditions or conditions of use where needed. |
| Responsible business | Give the responsible operator's name or business name and address. |
| Origin or provenance | Declare it where Article 26 requires it. |
| Instructions | Include them where appropriate use would otherwise be difficult. |
| Alcoholic strength | State actual strength for beverages over 1.2% ABV. |
| Nutrition | Provide the nutrition declaration unless an exemption applies. |
Ingredients, allergens and ingredient percentages
Use a heading containing "ingredients". List ingredients in descending order of weight as recorded when used in manufacture. Processing can change their final weights, so do not simply rank them by finished-product weight. Article 18 sets this basis.
Within the ingredients list, emphasise the name of each applicable Annex II allergen. Bold type is one option, not the only permitted method. Where there is no ingredients list, use "contains" followed by the allergen. A separate indication is unnecessary where the food name clearly refers to it. Do not stretch those exceptions past Article 21.
A quantitative ingredient declaration, or QUID, can be required when an ingredient appears in the food name. Emphasis in words, pictures or graphics can also trigger it. Other triggers include ingredients usually associated with the name, or essential to characterise and distinguish the food. Normally, give the percentage when used, next to the food name or alongside the ingredient. The triggers, exceptions and calculation rules are in Article 22 and Annex VIII.
Dates, business details and origin
A use-by date applies to microbiologically highly perishable food likely to become an immediate health danger after a short period. After that date, the food is deemed unsafe under the cited food-safety provisions. That is a different rule from minimum durability, usually shown as best before, and some foods are exempt from a date. The detail is in Article 24 and Annex X.
For GB, the responsible operator is the business marketing the food under its name. If that business is not established in the British Islands, responsibility falls to the importer. Use Article 8 alongside the market-specific address guidance above.
Origin is not compulsory on every food. It is required where omission might mislead, including where the label suggests a different origin. Specified meat categories have further requirements. Stating the food's origin can also trigger information about its primary ingredient where the origins differ. Check the applicable implementing rules before settling the wording. See Article 26 and the government overview.
Nutrition information
The standard mandatory declaration contains energy, fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt. Fibre is not a mandatory component of that list. Article 30 sets out the components.
Show the required amounts per 100 g or 100 ml, using the prescribed units. Per-portion figures alone do not replace this basis. Keep the declaration together in the same field of vision. Use a table with aligned numbers where space permits, or a linear format otherwise. These rules appear in Article 32 and Article 34.
How must food information be displayed?
Mandatory information must be conspicuous, easily visible and clearly legible. Other material must not hide, obscure or interrupt it. Where appropriate, it must be indelible. Article 13 also sets the minimum x-height:
- 1.2 mm as the general rule.
- 0.9 mm where the largest surface is below 80 cm².
Measure x-height, not font point size. Under Article 13, the food name, net quantity and alcoholic strength, where relevant, must share the same field of vision, subject to the exceptions in Article 16(1) and 16(2).
Do not mix the small-pack thresholds. Below 80 cm², only the x-height floor changes, to 0.9 mm. Below 25 cm², Annex V can remove the nutrition declaration, and it also lists other exemptions. Its small-quantity, direct-supply provision does not exempt every small business. Below 10 cm², Article 16(2) reduces the on-pack FIC particulars to the name, allergens, net quantity and date. The ingredients list must still be available through other means or on request.
Article 16 exempts beverages over 1.2% ABV from the ingredients list and nutrition declaration. Other legislation can still require that information, and the exemption does not cover every alcoholic product. Check Article 16 and the product-specific rules.
What changes for PPDS, loose food and online sales?
Food prepacked for direct sale
PPDS generally means food packaged at the place it is offered or sold, before the customer orders or selects it. Some same-operator market and mobile sales also qualify. Food packed after ordering is not PPDS. Food packed by one business and supplied to another is ordinary prepacked food. These distinctions follow FSA guidance.
The same FSA guidance, updated 17 July 2026, requires PPDS labels to carry the food name and a full ingredients list, with applicable allergens emphasised. Food Standards Scotland says Scotland has required the food name, a full ingredients list and emphasised allergens since 1 October 2021.
Do not carry the physical PPDS label unchanged into online ordering. England's regulation 5A applies its ingredients-labelling requirement to offers made otherwise than by distance communication. Regulation 6A still requires the food name for PPDS food offered to a final consumer or a mass caterer. The name must be on the package or an attached label, except where the offer is made by distance communication. That exception is about placement, not a reason to drop the name from the distance offer.
Loose food
Loose food does not escape food information duties. Article 44 requires allergen information for non-prepacked food, while national rules determine other requirements. Check the relevant national provisions rather than applying the ordinary prepacked checklist unchanged. See Article 44 in EU FIC.
Online and other distance sales
For prepacked food sold at a distance, mandatory information must be available before purchase, except Article 9(1)(f) date information. All mandatory particulars must be available at delivery. If another information channel is used, identify it clearly and impose no supplementary charge. These requirements come from Article 14.
Checks before releasing a label
Record the destination market, packing category and sales method before checking individual label fields. Then review ingredients, allergens, required particulars, display rules and any claimed exemption against the applicable provisions. A checklist cannot settle every product-specific exception.
For the underlying food-label question, see RegAffairs AI's cited answer.
This guide does not cover detailed category rules for wine, honey, jams, juices, flour, supplements or infant foods. Those foods can have additional requirements beyond the general FIC checklist, as the government's packaging guidance explains.